Νίσιβις - Stephanos Ethnika

Νίσιβις OCR ✓ Trans ✓ Confirmed ✓

city

Νίσιβις, πόλις ἐν τῇ Περαίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τῷ Τίγρητι ποταμῷ. Φίλων ἐν Φοινικικοῖς Νάσιβις φησὶ διὰ τοῦ « α ». Οὐράνιος δὲ διὰ τοῦ « ε » Νέσιβις· σημαίνει δέ, ὥς φησι Φίλων, νάσιβις τὰς στήλας”. ὁ δὲ Οὐράνιος “νέσιβις” φησί “σημαίνει τῇ Φοινίκων φωνῇ λίθοι συγκείμενοι, συμφορητοί”. Στράβων δὲ ἑκκαιδεκάτῃ διὰ τοῦ « ι ». τὸ ἐθνικὸν Νισιβηνός. ἔδει Νισιβίτης, ἀλλ´ ὁ τύπος Αἰγύπτιος καὶ Λίβυς, ὁ δὲ διὰ τοῦ « ηνος » παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην καὶ τὴν ἕω, ὡς Σωφηνός Ταβηνός Καμβυσηνός.

Translation pending

Text Details

Entry	#65
Greek text	meineke (current) · csv_fallback
Source id	Meineke 476.17
OCR	gemini-constrained (gemini-3-flash-preview) on 2025-12-31
Word count	76

Cited Authors

Author	Work / Citation
Φίλων (Philon (Philo))	Φοινικικοῖς · FGrHist 790 F 6
Οὐράνιος (Ouranios)	FGrHist 675 F 30
Στράβων (Strabo)	16,1,23 [C 747,6]

Mentioned Entities

Entity	Details
Νισιβις	Nisibis · place · corrected · Q504771
Τίγρης	Tigris · place · corrected · Q35591
Νισιβις	Nisibis (variant) · place · corrected · Q504771
Νισιβις	Nisibis (variant) · place · corrected · Q504771
Φοίνικες	Phoenicians · people · corrected · Q41642
Νισιβηνός	Nisibene (ethnic) · people · corrected · Q14524112
Νισιβίτης	Nisibite (resident) · people
Αἰγύπτιος	Egyptian · people
Λίβυς	Libyan / Libya · people
Εὐφράτης	Euphrates · place · corrected · Q34589
Σωφηνός	Sophene (ethnic/form) · people
Ἀραξηνός	Araxene / of Araxes (ethnic) · people
Καμβυσηνός	Cambysene / (ethnic) · people
Nisibis (city in the territory by the Tigris)	place · city · Perrhaea / territory by the Tigris · explicit · wikidata: Q7040822 · candidate

Etymologies

Category	Explanation
Borrowing Non Greek	Philo (in his Phoenician work) writes Νάσιβις (with α). Philo says it means 'nāsibis — the stelae.'
Borrowing Non Greek	Ouranios (writing Νέσιβις with ε) says that 'nésibis' in the Phoenician tongue means 'stones placed together, piled stones' (stones heaped/assembled).
Unclear Metalinguistic	Variant spellings: Philo gives Νάσιβις (via α) while Ouranios gives Νέσιβις (via ε). (Orthographic/phonetic variants of the place-name.)
Unclear Metalinguistic	Strabo uses the -ις form: the ethnicon Νισιβηνός. It should be Νισιβίτης, but the Egyptian and Libyan type (uses a different form); the -ηνος form occurs in regions by the Euphrates and the 'heō' (examples: Σωφηνός, Ἀραξηνός, Καμβυσηνός). (Discussion of ethnicon/formation rather than origin.)

Links

Place links	Nisibis \| 📍 Map \| Pleiades
Page scans	e9783110219630_i1712.jpg
Review	Open review page

Translation Guidance

Kind	Rule	Guidance	Detection
Formula	X... + πρός + Y (dative) formula:1a524ea80fe79519	Translate as "X... near Y" Domain: SPATIAL & PREDICATE STATEMENTS Rule status: In progress	Matched · high confidence · 1 scan row · 1 occurrence
Formula	τὸ ἐθνικὸν + X (nominative ETHNONYM) formula:cfc8a7c494690fc3	Translate as "the ethnonym is 'X'" Domain: SPATIAL & PREDICATE STATEMENTS Rule status: In progress	Matched · high confidence · 1 scan row · 1 occurrence

Herodian overlaps

Stephanos excerpt (left) is aligned with matched Herodian passages (right). Colors indicate corresponding overlap spans.

Herodian 1.87

char LCS 37 (10.4%) · word LCS 9 (11.8%)

Stephanos

Νίσιβις, πόλις ἐν τῇ Περαίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τῷ Τίγρητι ποταμῷ. Φίλων ἐν Φοινικικοῖς Νάσιβις φησὶ διὰ τοῦ « α ». Οὐράνιος δὲ διὰ τοῦ « ε » Νέσιβις· σημαίνει δέ, ὥς φησι Φίλων, νάσιβις τὰς στήλας”. ὁ δὲ Οὐράνιος “νέσιβις” φησί “σημαίνει τῇ Φοινίκων φωνῇ λίθοι συγκείμενοι, συμ…

Herodian

…ς. οὕτω καὶ Στράβων (p 802). ἔστι καὶ ἄλλη ἐν Ἀραβίᾳ. Ἴαβις πόλις τῆς Γαλαδίτιδος. Ἰώσηπος (A. I. 5, 2, 11 et 6, 14, 8). λέγεται καὶ Ἰαβισσός. Κάραμβις ἄκρα τοῦ Πόντου. Πνέβεβις πόλις Αἰγύπτου, Ψινέκταβις κώμη Αἰγυπτία. Νίσιβις πόλις ἐν τῇ Περαίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τῷ Τίγρητι. Φίλων ἐν Φοινικικοῖς Νάσιβις φησὶ διὰ τοῦ 'α'. σημαίνει δέ, ὥς φησι Φίλων, νάσιβις τὰς στήλας. Δάνουβις ἢ Δάνουσις Ἴστρος ὁ ποταμός. ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ ὥσπερ τοῦ ἁμαρτεῖν ἔχων αἰτίαν. Ἄνουβις, κάνναβις. σημείωσαι τὸ καλλαβ…